23 days of needles...and I am worn out!

So, I started my down regulation on June 5th - yes, JUNE f'ing 5th! I have been on a high dose of superfact in effort to suppress my pituitary gland, thus, preventing ovulation. As of Tuesday, I added in another needle, yay!! I am officially on stims and very excited for this try! As much as I am melting down over leaving Cailyn and Mark, I am also very excited to get this show on the road, and...be done with the needles! Tuesday's bloods showed two good things: 1. the removal of my cyst drove my E2 level down to normal and 2. my LH is good - so the suppression is working well. Of course the clinic here had a new u/s machine, tiny like a small laptop, and the medical devices sales rep was in the room for training while I was spread eagle! I wonder if HE does this frequently? Regardless of having a strange man staring at my goods, I have about 10 visible follicles, which is a good start before stims start.
Saturday I will go for my next blood and scan before departing for India!! I hope to see some good follicle growth - with the high dose of meds I am on (thanks Dr S!), I should see some good growth!

Cyst be gone!

My cyst is officially gone.  I arrived at the clinic at 7:30am, no food or drink for 12 hours prior.  I was very quickly checked in and one of the nurses put my IV in.  I was the second procedure that day, so I just had to enjoy my delicious saline drip and wait.  Thank god for iPhone - I was able to catch up on blogs and email.  Just before 9am I was asked to pee then headed to the OR.  Dr Casper was there waiting for me, and after some nurse confusion as to where the cyst was, Dr C asked "me" where it was and we were ready to roll.  I dreaded this procedure as I knew I would be awake for it and it might just hurt, alot!   Dr C froze my necessary entry bits then within seconds I saw my largish cyst on the ultrasound screen.  Dr C said take a deep breath, then poke...the 18inch need had pierced the cyst membrane and he started to withdraw the fluid.  The whole procedure took less than a minute, and surprisingly the pain was minimal!  Good job Dr C!  The rest of the day was a write off, just exhausted and a small amount of cramping, otherwise good.  Hopefully my next blood work will show lowered E2 levels.  Wish me luck!
Despite my emotional anxiety of leaving Cailyn and Mark, I am really looking forward to going to Delhi and meeting up with some people.  I am sad, yet happy that Bernadette will still be in India.  Sadly her boy is still playing games with his health so it looks like I will actually meet them.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Went for my baseline scan and bloods.  The Good: my uterus looks great, three lines clearly visible and some little follies were visible!  The Bad: I have a 2.7x1.7 cm cyst.  The UGLY:  The cyst must be drained asap!
My bloods showed elevated E2 so, this combined with the juicy cyst had both the clinic here and Dr Shivani asking to have the cyst aspirated asap.  It seems a cyst can be called "functional" which can mess with your hormones, thus, driving up my estrogen. 
As of very early this morning my nurse at the clinic has made the arrangements & as of Thursday early morning I will be cyst free! 

Week one of meds ...

Meds are going well.  I have just finished the Provera and will continue with the suppression injections til egg retrieval.  The suppression meds make my legs ache at higher doses - always have - so I emailed Dr Shivani about this, and in her typical efficient and super quick response time she responded with her medical opinion! Gotta love Dr S - she is just the best at communicating and I often wonder if she ever sleeps?!?!  Due to the higher dose of suppression meds it looks like I will need to grab a second bottle in the next few days or so and am having a hard time getting hold of the fert. clinic here, but I haven't tried really hard - tomorrow...procrastinate procrastinate!   June 19th is the the day Dr Shivani wants me to go for baseline bloods and ultrasounds.  I am always anxious before the first bloods and u/s of a cycle as I dread any bad news that could cancel a cycle or make it a challenging cycle.  Fingers crossed all goes well on the 19th.  I am looking forward to meeting some new people in Delhi and also connecting with some friends who will be there for baby pick up. Hoping I will get to meet Megan after 4 years of knowing each other by email and the Internet!  Megan and I started out on the surrogacy journey around the same time and have become comrades in the field of IVF and surrogacy.  I secretly hope Mandy's baby comes a little early (healthy early) so I can meet Mandy and her hubby.  Not too early ok..just a week or 10 days!  Other than this, I have plans to meet up with Aussies (Kim), Canadians (Kathy and David), Irish (Elaine) & Swiss/Canadians (Teresa).  Not sure how I will fit in an egg retrieval with all the socializing!  Sadly, I know my emotional state departing Canada will be frayed as I am leaving behind Mark and Cailyn.  I dread saying goodbye to them both, but know this is a small sacrifice to make to potentially give Cailyn a sibling.  Visa apps are in and will be picked up later this week, flights are booked and so is the hotel.  All is falling into place, and hopefully we will have success!

Needles and pills!

Yesterday I received my treatment schedule from Dr Shivani and to my surprise, I had to start my treatment yesterday!  I packed up Cailyn and drove 45 minutes north to a newly found IVF pharmacy with scripts in hand.  My scripts were filled very quickly and the pharmacists, having done IVF herself, and now offering meds at 2% above wholesale, offered me best wishes for a successful cycle.  I struggled with timing my meds - if I do them in the morning here, it will be the evening in Delhi and vice verse.  I am not sure I could wake up in Delhi on time, so I opted to do them at 9 am my time, 6:30pm Delhi time.   I did however take the provera tablet and withing 3 hours had menopausal hot flashes accompanied by mild sweats - OH YAY! gotta love hormones!! So, I will be on a down regulation (needles) from now until mid July, similar to how I cycled for Cailyn.  I will start stims around the 26th of June and fly to Delhi shortly after.